As the White House on Monday backed off in a legal dispute with CNN over the press credentials of White House correspondent Jim Acosta, the White House announced new rules of behavior for reporters, which could result in the suspension of a reporter’s press pass for asking more than one question of the President or top administration officials. “We have created these rules with a degree of regret,” said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who directly blamed Acosta for the change, after the CNN reporter locked horns with President Trump in a post-election news conference earlier this month, refusing to give up the microphone while trying to get answers from the President about immigration policy. Here are the new rules as set out by the White House, which were contained in an email sent on Monday afternoon through the White House Pool: Sent: Monday, November 19, 2018 4:06 PM Subject: In-Town Pool Report #3- Acosta/CNN Letter From Press Secretary Sarah Sanders: This afternoon we have notified Jim Acosta and CNN that his hard pass has been restored. We have also notified him of certain rules that will govern White House press conferences going forward. They are listed here: A journalist called upon to ask a question will ask a single question and then will yield the floor to other journalists; At the discretion of the President or other White House official taking questions, a follow-up question or questions may be permitted; and where a follow up has been allowed and asked, the questioner will then yield the floor; “Yielding the floor” includes, when applicable, physically surrendering the microphone to White House staff for use by the next questioner; Failure to abide by any of rules (1)-(3) may result in suspension or revocation of the journalist’s hard pass. We have created these rules with a degree of regret. For years, members of the White House press corps have attended countless press events with the President and other officials without engaging in the behavior Mr. Acosta displayed at the November 7, 2018 press conference. We would have greatly preferred to continue hosting White House press conferences in reliance on a set of understood professional norms, and we believe the overwhelming majority of journalists covering the White House share that preference. But, given the position taken by CNN, we now feel obligated to replace previously shared practices with explicit rules. We are mindful that a more elaborate and comprehensive set of rules might need to be devised, including, for example, for journalist conduct in the open (non-press room) areas inside and outside the White House and for Air Force One. At this time however, we have decided not to frame such rules in the hope that professional journalistic norms will suffice to regulate conduct in those places. If unprofessional behavior occurs in those settings, or if a court should decide that explicit rules are required to regulate conduct there, we will be forced to reconsider this decision. The White House’s interaction with the press is, and generally should be, subject to a natural give-and-take. President Trump believes strongly in the First Amendment, and a free press and is the most accessible President in modern history. It would be a great loss for all if, instead of relying on the professionalism of White House journalists, we were compelled to devise a lengthy and detailed code of conduct for White House events.

The recent turbulence in the U.S. stock markets is spooking some older workers and retirees, a group that was hit particularly hard during the most recent financial crisis. There’s no indication, though, that the recent volatility has brought about large-scale overhauls in retirement planning. “There’s a lot of fear that if you have another event like 2008 and you retire the year before or the year after, you’re screwed. I’m not taking that risk,” says Mark Patterson, a recently retired patent attorney from Nashville, Tennessee. “There’s a huge fear of folks my age that they’re going to run out of money and they’re going to need to rely on the government for help.” By the time the market bottomed out during the financial crisis in 2009, an estimated $2.7 trillion had been wiped out of Americans’ retirement accounts, according to the Urban Institute. Older Americans, in particular, have had a tough time recovering their losses. The Pew Research Center estimates the net worth of the median Baby Boomer household in 2016 was still nearly 18 percent shy of where it sat in 2007.

Even the best of cooks can end up missing an ingredient on Thanksgiving morning. If you find yourself short on nutmeg or minus a few potatoes, there is a good chance a grocery store near you will be open on Thanksgiving for at least for part of the day. Here is a list of Thanksgiving Day openings, closings and store hours for national grocery store chains. Reminder: Some stores do not follow national opening/closing hours. Some state laws prohibit stores being open on a holiday. Be sure to check with your local stores for times. ALDI: All stores are closed on Thanksgiving. AJ's Fine Foods: Open 6 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Albertsons: Open from 6 a.m.-5 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Bashas': Open until 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving. BJ's Wholesale Club: BJ’s is closed Thanksgiving. Costco: All stores will be closed on Thanksgiving. Food Lion: Most stores will be open until 3 p.m. (depending on the store). Fresh Market: Open until 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Ingles: Open regular hours on Thanksgiving. Kroger: Stores are open regular hours on Thanksgiving. Publix: All stores and pharmacies will be closed on Thanksgiving; regular hours resume on Friday. Safeway: Most stores will be open from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. Sam's Club: All stores are closed on Thanksgiving. Sprouts Farmers Market: Open 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Target: Stores open at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving and close at 1 a.m. Friday. Trader Joes: All stores closed on Thanksgiving. Walmart: Stores will be open on Thanksgiving. Wegmans: Most Wegmans locations will close at 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Whole Foods: Hours: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

After a post-election vote fight that showcased vote counting troubles in two south Florida counties, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) conceded defeat to Gov. Rick Scott (R) on Sunday, ensuring Republican gains in the Senate in the 2018 mid-term elections, and delivering a welcome piece of good post-election news for President Donald Trump and the GOP. “I just spoke with Senator Bill Nelson, who graciously conceded, and I thanked him for his years of public service,” said Scott in a statement. “My focus will not be on looking backward, but on doing exactly what I ran on,” Scott said. “Making Washington Work.” Florida elections officials on Sunday announced a final advantage for Scott of 10,033 votes – that was down from just under 15,000 in favor of Scott when the machine recount began, and lower than the nearly 12,500 edge for the GOP before the hand recount started on Friday. For Republicans, the hard fought win gives them a gain of two seats in the Senate for 2019, as the GOP will have a 53-47 edge, provided they can also win a special runoff election for Senate in Mississippi after Thanksgiving. The Scott victory was a rare piece of good news for Republicans since Election Day, as the GOP has lost a number of close House races in recent days. Democrats have now gained 37 seats in the House, with five GOP seats still undecided amid continued vote counting. Nelson becomes the fifth U.S. Senator to lose in November, joining three other Democrats – McCaskill in Missouri, Heitkamp in North Dakota, and Donnelly in Indiana – along with one Republican Senator, Heller in Nevada. While 5 Senators were tossed out by the voters in November, 27 House members – all Republicans – have been defeated. Several more could still lose in the five remaining House contests which are undecided. Hanging over the defeat for Nelson is what appears to have been a ballot design problem in one small part of Broward County, Florida, where thousands of voters did not cast a vote in the U.S. Senate race, which happened at a much higher rate than other areas in that county. The Florida Senate count is at Scott+10,033, right around the margin where the Broward County undervote/bad ballot design could have been decisive. We may never know https://t.co/Gg14C1heaV — Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) November 18, 2018 The ‘undervote’ problems in that area of Broward County were just part of a slew of post-election issues highlighted by the wrangling over the final tally in both the Florida Senate and Florida Governor’s race.

It used to be that there was a lot of talk on Capitol Hill about actually balancing the budget. Back in the Clinton Administration, the Republican Congress came within one vote of sending a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification.

But after a few balanced budgets in the Clinton era, it’s been all red ink – and the latest forecast from the Congressional Budget Office features more and more of the same.

The budget deficit in Fiscal Year 2013 was $680 billion, and the CBO prediction for this year is that the deficit will fall to $506 [More]

While the Inspector General of the VA did not draw a direct link between substandard care and the deaths of as many as 40 veterans at the Phoenix VA, a new report showcases what the IG labeled “unacceptable and troubling lapses in follow-up, coordination, quality and continuity of care” for veterans at that facility.

Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs say investigators have found no evidence that health care delays at a Phoenix VA hospital led to the deaths of several dozen veterans, though the report confirmed internal troubles with the VA health care system and its delivery, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reported on Monday that the draft investigative report had not been publicly released, but was instead shared with top officials at the VA.

The AP quoted a statement from new VA Secretary Robert McDonald about the interim report from the VA’s Office of Inspector General, which said that [More]

Sometimes when you come back from vacation, you are greeted at the door by a lot of work that has piled up on your desk. For President Obama, a variety of domestic and world events pushed their way into his vacation, as he returns to the Oval Office with all kinds of unfinished business.

Let’s look at some of those items, D.C., in no particular order of importance.

1. Iraq

It might seem hard to believe, but U.S. air strikes on northern Iraq began just as Air Force One was leaving for Martha’s Vineyard back on August 8. Since then, U.S. fighter jets [More]

Still grappling with the brutal video killing of an American journalist this week, Pentagon leaders defended a failed rescue effort from earlier this summer and refused to publicly rule out the chance of attacks against Sunni militants in their home bases in Syria.

“I don’t know any other way to describe it, other than barbaric,” said Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel at a Pentagon news conference, as he denounced the execution of journalist James Foley and said the United States would not back off because of threats to kill other Americans.

In the fight of his political life in 2014, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) isn’t running away from the controversy surrounding the Obama health law, as he has unveiled a new television ad which makes no bones about his support for some of the law’s major changes.

“That’s why I helped pass a law that prevents insurance companies from canceling your insurance policy if you get sick,” Pryor said.

The ad begins with Pryor’s father – the very popular former Senator and Governor David Pryor – talking about his son’s battle with cancer.

A day after a video surfaced showing Sunni militants brutally killing an American journalist, President Obama denounced the Islamic State group, saying the entire world is “appalled” by the murder of James Foley.

“No just God would stand for what they did yesterday,” the President said of ISIL, saying the Islamic extremist group has “no ideology of any value to human beings.”

Mr. Obama’s remarks from Martha’s Vineyard came soon after he spoke with the family of reporter James Foley, who had gone missing in Syria two years ago.

Here is a transcript of the President’s remarks as provided by the White House:

As President Obama boarded Air Force One to go back to his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard on Tuesday afternoon, there was still no concrete explanation from the White House as to why the President had scheduled a return to work in Washington, D.C. as part of his summer break.

Before Mr. Obama left on his trip, reporters tried to get some insight from the White House on why the President was returning for meetings, but White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest would only say the get togethers were not of an emergency nature.

Back for two days from his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, President Obama said he would send Attorney General Eric Holder to Ferguson, Missouri on Wednesday, as he again urged police and protestors to avoid further conflict in the wake of the killing by an officer of an unarmed black teenager.

“While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving into that anger by looting or carrying guns, and even attacking the police only serves to raise tensions and stir chaos,” the President told reporters in the White House Briefing Room, saying such violence “undermines” [More]